Essence
by innocentxdesire
Summary: Trying to improve my writing skills. Mostly about Sakura if she wasn't as weak and fills in some blank spots with my version of what happened in the show.
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone. This story is my first ever and mostly just to practice my writing skills. Please comment and point out any suggestions for better ! ANd also tell me about the story too. I actually have a plot and it wont follow the storyline of Naruto exactly.

I don't own Naruto! hehe

On the day of academy graduation a young, hyperactive, blonde sat eagerly eating his morning cereal. Looking closely you would be able to see that the bottle had expired a week ago. THe boy however was too excited to notice as he played with the headband sitting proudly across his forehead. The leaf symbol engraved was the only mark on it's shiny new surface glinted in the morning sunlight. No stratches, scuffs. For now he was simply a boy who hasn't yet entered the cruel shinobi world.  
In an apartment similar to the blondes another soon to be academy graduate prepared for the day. Dark wild locks messily framed his face and mached with equally dark eyes. He also wore his headband on his forehead but kept his excitement well masked. His face was impassive but his thoughts ran wild with excitement of becoming stronger. A smirk found its way onto his lips as he headed off to the academy. Head up, walking tall and proud, he gave no indication of the veavy burden he has to bear.  
A girl with hair an unusual pink color studied her reflection in her floor length mirror. UNlike the others she slid her new forehead protector into place as a hairband seemingly not as proud her her achievement. She brushed through rose colored locks before being reminded that the genin meeting would be starting soon. Green eyes were dull, bored, seeing things that no child should see.

The dark haired boy was one of the first to arrive at the academy. Not even the teacher had arrived yet as he took his usual seat by the elbows leaned on the desk while chin laid on his folded hands. He allowed his mind to wander to dark thoughts. Thoughts that no child should ever have to think of.  
A few minutes passed before the boy was interrupted by high pitched screams of,"Sasuke, Sasuke!." Several girls approached Sasuke each hoping to catch his attention. To this he merely rolled his eyes before turning to look at things far off outside the window. Even so, the girls did not seem a bit discouraged.  
A bit later the classroom had begun to fill up. Among the students was the familiar loud mouthed blond. He surprisingly had managed to stay out of trouble so far. It wasn't until the pretty rose haired girl walked in that trouble started.  
The rosette stepped into class alongside a blond haired girl. "Ha, take that, Sakura, I beat you here," the blond was quick to point out. Sakura nonchalantly replied with a, "Sure Ino-pig," before continuing into the classroom. The straw haired girl could be seen fuming in the background.  
Sakura was soon approached by the loud blond boy.  
"Sakura-channn! Wanna come sit by me?" he questioned with an extremely noticeable blush. She seemed not to notice and only gave him an odd look before walking away. Unfortunately Sakura didn't pick the best seat to sit in. You see, the seat next to Sasuke Uchiha was not to be taken by any girl without problems from his numerous Sakura sat down she was instantly approached by several girls ready to pick a fight over who would sit there.  
In the backround the loud yet rejected blond muttered to himself asking why girls were so obsessed with the Uchiha. He made his way over to Sasuke and squatted on his desk.  
Looking thoughtful he glared, " I don't see what's so great about you Sasuke-teme." The arguing girls were instantly ready to defend their Sasuke-kun with shouts of " Naruto-baka, get away from my Sasuke-kun."  
Before Naruto could even move a little nudge from the stretching boy in the row in front cuased him to lose his balance-ending with a liplock between the teme and baka.  
The whole class went quiet for a few shocked moments before the fangirls wre able torealize that Naruto had probably stolen their so desired place as Sasuke's first kiss. Both Sasuke and Naruto gagged, coughed, and spit entirely grossed out. This was until Naruto felt his senses come alert with the possiblilty of danger. It turns out he was in danger- from the furious fangirls ready to murder him.  
Fortunately,before the girls could do too much damage the instructor, Iruka, walked in demanding everyones attention.

"You all have completed the academy and are ready to move on to be successful genin. It will be tough but I know that with effort all of you can succeed. In the leaf village it is important to trust in yourself and your skills. However not all missions can be completed alone. Often you will need the aid of others to complete missions successfully. That is why genin will be placed on teams of three under the guidance of a jounin sensei." Iruka then began to call out students in groups of three along with their instructors name and the room they will meet at."...Team 7 Naruto Uzumaki...Sakura Haruno, and... Sasuke Uchiha."  
At this Naruto stood up and loudly protested about the assigned male team member. Going on he self proclaimed himself as the great Uzumaki and why he would be stuck on the same team as the Sasuke-teme.  
Iruka sighed." Sit down Naruto. No complaining. Sasuke scored the highest grades on the graduation exam while your own were the lowest. Teams must be balanced and to do that me must put the excelling student and the lowest together to balance eachother out."  
Naruto pouted but remained silent. Iruka dismissed them for a short lunch break before the squads would meet their new sensei.

From the start it could be seen that the newly appointed team was not going to be the most cooperative or efficient team. While the other teams went off to get to know eachother over lunch Team 7 remained seperated. Sasuke had gone off somewhere on his own as soon as they were dismissed. Naruto had asked Sakura to join him for lunch but she simply gave him that look again before declining and walking away. Naruto, feeling rejected once agian, went off on his own. He wasn't down long before he relized that he still needed to prove himself to Sasuke and ran off to find the loner boy.  
Sakura could be found sitting on a park bench with a bento. She like her teammates ate alone. The area was a peaceful quiet that was sure to not last long with a guy like Naruto no her team. She could already tell that between Naruto's overall personality along with the competive air between her two male team members quiet would be a rarity. Her meal continued in the sweet silence until she felt a coming presence.


	2. Chapter 2

"Kyo-san," Sakura stated blankly without even looking up from her meal.  
A sigh could be heard from behind one of the surrounding trees. Not bothering to hide himself anymore a young man stepped foward. A mask hid most of his features, only revealing dark, sincere eyes. The black hooded unifrm covered his hair making him hard to identify. Kyo walked easily towards the park bench and stood towering over the small girl. Sakura, not being intimidated in the least, did not even bother to look up at him. The aura around the man was quickly growing impatient. Finally he gave in to the silent competition.  
"Sakura," he started, " What are you doing here? Lounging around is not tolerated."  
FInally Sakura looked up. THere was a spark in her eye that Kyo didn't like. "I am not lounging around as you say,Kyo. NOt everything I do concerns you. THere is a reason for me being here so please leave. NOW."  
"Aww Sakura-chan don't be like that, you know I was just kidding," immediatly Kyo's entire self had changed to relaxed and easygoing.  
"Leave Kyo, don't you have a report to write," Sakura replied.  
" Yea, yea," Kyo pat her hair a few times, " you pretend you don't enjoy me presence," and with a bright smile he diseappered amongst the trees agian.  
_

It was quiet in classroom 344 seeing as only the three genin of squad 7 remained. SAsuke was leaning up agianst one of the front desks lost in thought while Sakura sat in one of the desks in the back. Naruto...well, he was quickly losing patience and maybe even some of his sanity from waiting so long. He began to pace the room.  
"Whats taking our sensei so long. All the other teams have gone off already. Even Iruka-sensei went home already!" WIth that Naruto got an idea for yet anouther of his famous pranks. Giggling to himself quite childishly he grabbed one of the board's erasers.  
"Dobe, what are you doing," Sasuke asked with an eyebrow raised in slight interest. By now Naruto was dragging a chair over to the door.  
"Hehe. THis is what our sensei gets for showing up late." He opened the door slighlty and while standing on the chair placed the eraser in the crack at the top. WHen the door was opened the eraser would fall on its unssuspecting victim.  
"Hnn. Our sensei is an elite jounin. THere's no way he'd fall for that," Sasuke muttered something that couldn't be made out and continued on with his prank.  
A slight noise outside alerted the genin to the presence of someone whom they assumed to be their sensei three watched in anticipation as a hand slid open the door. Then a mans head stuck itself in... and the eraser fell directly onto his head. FOr a few moments there was silence. The sensei too shocked to say anything. Naruto too happy that his prank worked and the other two, too stunned that that their sensei had indeed fallen for that obvious prank.  
Naruto's loud burst of laughter brought everyone out of silence. He held his stomach with tears running down whisker marked cheeks chanting, "he fell for it, fell for it."  
THe sensei managed to grab everyone's attention by clearing his throat. INstantly the genin quieted down. At least they had some respect he couldn't help but think.  
"Ahem, my first impression of you all is...I hate you," _

"ALright, why don't we get to know each other a bit. SAy somthing about yourselves."  
Team 7 was sitting on the roof of the academy. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto sat on the floor while their sensei leaned agianst the railing reading a book.  
"Ehh, well what are we suppossed to say?" Naruto asked.  
"How about things like your hobbies ,dreams, likes and dislikes, stuff like that."  
" WHy don't you start it out...sensei?" Sakura questioned.  
"OK then, I am Hatake Kakashi. I what I like and dislike is none of your business. My dreams...I haven't really thought about it. Goals...Hobbies, I have lots of hobbies," Kakashi answered vaguely.  
"SO all we really learned is his name, ne? Naruto whispered.  
"Next, you blondie," Kakashi ordered.  
Naruto immediatly brightened up. " I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen especially the kind Iruka-sensei buys me. My hobbies are comparing different types of cup ramen. I dislike the 3 minutes it takes for it to heat up. My goal is to be the greatest hokage, dattlebayo!"  
"Does this kid think about anything besides ramen. He's sure grown up in an interesting way" Kakashi thought." Next, the girl in the middle."  
Sakura, who had all this time been in her own little world, lazily lifted her head up." Watashi wa Sakura..."  
When she didn't continue even the stoic Uchiha turned his attention towards her. SAkura lowered her head agian and continued playing with her kunai.  
"WEll she's a bit different," Kakashi thought," And lastly you on the right. HE pointed to Sasuke.  
With bangs shading his eyes and chin resting on folded hands Sasuke gave off the air of mysterious bad boy. " Watashi was...Uchiha Sasuke. I dislike alot of things and don't particularly like anything. My dream... is more of a goal because it will happen. I will revive my clan and kill a certain man."  
"As I thought,"

Kakashi looked to see the reactions of Sasukes teammates to his confession. Naruto was shifting uncomfortably. Probably wondering if he was Sasukes target. A sigh could be heard from the teams only female member instantly drawing everyone's attention. SHe stood up. SHe looked up at the sky and breathed deeply.  
" Well now that Sasuke has gone and ruined a perfectly good day with his depressing story I'll take my leave, ja," with that she turned to head towards the stairs.  
Sasuke glared at her while the others looked somewhat surprised. Kakashi found that this would be a good time to tell them about his little surprise. "HOld on a minute Sakura. THere's one thing I still have to tell you. Meet tomorrow at the training grounds for your first mission-"  
Naruto's eyes lit up." Yes our first mission. I bet it's something super cool. What is it huh, sensei," he interupted.  
Kakashi giggled.  
" Whats so funny?" the ever quiet Uchiha asked.  
" Well I'll tell you but your not going to like it. TOmmorrow we'll be having somewhat of a survival training mission. IN order to fully become genin you must pass this."  
FRom the door leading back inside Sakura spoke up," What was the point in taking a graduation test then and giving us these headbands. Making everyone feel proud of themselves only to find out that the next day it'll be taken away..."  
"Yes,um...about that. Well, don't eat breakfast tomorrow or you'll puke. Ja-ne!" With a quick wave Kakashi poofed away before they could ask anything else.  



End file.
